


screaming and fighting (and kissing in the rain)

by swiftssharpe



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Past Sara Lance/Oliver Queen, They work in an office, charlie uses they/them pronouns, non-binary Charlie, past sara/felicity, very little angst, why did I write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:10:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23859571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftssharpe/pseuds/swiftssharpe
Summary: “So, what happened to your computer?” the woman asked, looking down at her from where she stood a few feet away. “Did you spill something on it? Download a virus?”(Her name turned out to be Ava, she had her badge hanging from the lanyard around her neck. A nice name, in Sara’s mind. Ava Sharpe.)“Do you really think I’m that stupid?” Sara scoffed, feeling simultaneously more and less attracted to the woman.And then Ava, that absolute stuck up bitch of a lady, had the audacity to shrug and say, “You can never be all that sure these days. People are idiots.”or,the one where ava and sara work in an office building and truely, honestly hate each other's guts (until they don't).
Relationships: Charlie/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nora Darhk & Ava Sharpe, Nora Darhk & Sara Lance, Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer, Sara Lance & Ava Sharpe, Sara Lance & Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 17
Kudos: 106





	screaming and fighting (and kissing in the rain)

**Author's Note:**

> so! this is something i've been working on for like forever (since around august 2019) and only finished now (aka may 2020) so that's a whole thing. i meant for this to be a short and fluffy one shot but somehow it turned into 11k words of pure chaos and who the hell knows what.
> 
> you can follow me on twitter at @swiftssharpe where i mostly tweet absolute nonsense. 
> 
> (in case you didn't read the tags, this is earth one laurel and the og zari and also i have watched a grand total of three arrow episodes and e1 laurel was in exactly one of them so laurel will probably be out of character, sorry)
> 
> title from the way i loved you by taylor swift

Sara decided that August 23, 2019 would go down in history as the worst day ever. Actually, that’s one hell of an understatement if you were to ask her. Possibly even the understatement of the century.

First, she’d gotten a text from her ex, telling her that he wants her back (that alone is no big deal, it happens after every single breakup he goes through which happens at least once a month). But the cherry on top? He also decided to come knocking on her door at fucking three in the morning, drunk as he could be, begging for her back.

But it didn’t just end there. She _then_ was re-awakened at five in the morning by her sister calling just so she could yell at her because _apparently_ her idiot of a boyfriend decided it would be nice to cheat on her—fuck men, honestly—and so maybe Sara was already quite snappy that day.

The (kind of) funny and ironic part of that? Her ex was the one that cheated on Laurel. With another one of her exes. What even was her life?

And then, when she got to work, sleepy to the point of being somewhat delirious, her computer broke down, taking all of her work with it.

(Of course, Zari was up for all of this too, so now she had a very grumpy roommate to deal with, too. The whole situation was just _bad_.)

So, needless to say, it was one of her worst days in a while.

But then… then something wondrous and terrible and possibly just plain odd happened. The IT department decided to send their new hire (Eva? Ava? Eve?) to fix her computer, and god was she beautiful.

“So, what happened to your computer?” the woman asked, looking down at her from where she stood a few feet away. “Did you spill something on it? Download a virus?”

(Her name turned out to be Ava, she had her badge hanging from the lanyard around her neck. A nice name, in Sara’s mind. Ava Sharpe.)

“Do you _really_ think I’m that stupid?” Sara scoffed, feeling simultaneously more and less attracted to the woman. She’d be good for a one-night stand, but not a relationship. Damn interoffice relationship rules for preventing it, especially since—from what Sara could tell—Ava had a permanent stick up her ass and would never go for breaking the rules.

(Little did she know how _that_ would turn out for her.)

And then Ava, that absolute stuck up bitch of a lady, had the audacity to shrug and say, “You can never be all that sure these days. People are idiots.”

Sara’s cheeks flushed with rage as her heart skipped a beat because _damn, that was hot_ and why couldn’t her brain just agree with itself on whether to be attracted to her or not? Goddamn it.

But then Ava leaned over her and fixed her computer (and did she bring a mug with a lesbian flag on it? Sara pleaded to her brain for it to just let her live and not start thirsting over a random lady for once in her life, _especially_ if the woman was gay. It’s all she wanted, to be able to work in peace). All it took was a few keystrokes for Ava to close that one goddamn program that kept freezing up and causing her computer to crash, and then she recovered her work like some kind of fucking genius.

And of course Ava was being all bitchy about it, like, “You should know better than to have this many programs open, it’s obviously going to freeze up your computer,” and damn, maybe she was somewhat hot.

But she was also a bitch and Sara did not appreciate it.

And then, while getting coffee from the breakroom during a much-needed breather, Sara spilled her scalding hot coffee on herself and ruined her favourite pair of pants _and_ hurt herself, and that was completely and utterly shit.

So. That’s how Sara’s day was going.

Like she said, that day was going down in history as the worst day ever would be the understatement of the century, or maybe even the millenium.

Definitely worse than that time Hitler took over multiple different countries and killed millions of people.

For sure.

(Maybe not.)

~*~

“I just don’t understand, Zari. She’s _infuriating._ Infuriatingly hot, yes, but also just infuriatingly annoying. She kept insinuating that I didn’t know what I was doing and that I was probably the reason everything happened. I swear to god, that bitch doesn’t even realize that sure, I’m not a computer whiz but I’m also the reason she has a job so, you know…” Sara let out an angry huff and threw herself onto their couch, resisting the urge to keep ranting.

“Trust me, she’s not nearly as insufferable once you get to know her. The two of you would probably get along great if you weren’t too much of a stubborn idiot to just suck it up and be nice for once in your life.”

“I _am_ nice,” Sara insisted, “she’s just a massive—”

“Nope. If you’re gonna behave like a toddler, it’s time for bed. Just like a toddler.”

“Bitch, it’s not even seven. I’m not going to bed.”

“And there it is, trying to stay up. Just like a toddler.”

Walking out of the room and into the kitchen, Sara stuck her middle finger up over her shoulder and started rummaging through the fridge, looking for some kind of chocolate or anything sugary, really because dammit, she’s had a long day and deserves something good for once.

Glancing into the fridge, Sara berates herself for once again neglecting to buy enough food to last the two of them a week—she’d just gone out to the store a few days ago and they were already down to three eggs, a pack of carrots, milk and a container of leftover spaghetti from the night before. Between that and the pack of donuts Zari had bought for herself that morning, there wasn’t anything she really _wanted_ to eat (except for the donuts, but she knew that she probably shouldn’t eat those). But she had to do what she had to do.

“Zari, I’m eating one of your donuts,” she yelled to her friend in the other room, knowing that she’d get a harsh _no_ but still end up eating one anyways because, really, as sarcastic and blunt as Zari was, she would never do anything rude to her. Except possibly smack her with a pillow. Really hard. She actually attempted that quite often, whenever Sara did anything to inconvenience her in the slightest. But what Zari always forgot was that Sara had the reflexes (and the training) of a ninja and could almost always block her attacks. 

There was a groan from the other room before what sounded like a “fuck you” and then, “That means you’re buying me my next box!”

Sara had already assumed that was going to happen. It was an unspoken rule between the two of them—whoever eats the last donut is responsible for buying the next box. Because of her addiction, it was almost always Zari. In fact, this was like Sara’s… fourth, maybe fifth time buying donuts in the span of like three years. And they’d gone through about a box a week each week in that time.

“Fine. But that means you’re taking all my IT requests. That Ava chick better not come back.”

Zari didn’t respond to that.

Sara still hoped she wouldn’t make her deal with Ava again.

But, of course, Sara knew that Zari was Zari and that she’d definitely have to deal with Ava again, because life is cruel and unfair and Zari’s an asshole.

~*~

Sara should’ve known that she _never_ gets what she wishes for. Not only did she have to deal with Ava again, but this time the issue was technically her fault which meant Ava would be even more smug and, really, why does she have to be like that? Damn Ava with her goddamn superiority complex.

“And you realize you should _not_ have done that, right? Sara? Sara? And you’re not listening. Of course you aren’t. It’s not like you actually care about getting any of your work done, unlike some people around here.”

“Excuse me? I’ll have you know that not only do I do my work, I also usually do the work of these idiots just sitting around playing computer games. Look at Drew, all he does is sit around playing Roblox.”

Ava scoffed and rolled her eyes, saying, “At least these idiots didn’t spill a giant mug of coffee on their computer and then not only fail to report it, but also not bother to clean anything up.”

This is where the technicality came in. Yes, this was technically Sara’s fault. But really it wasn’t completely. “For the bazillionth time, the phones were down! You know this! You acknowledge it!”

Again, Ava rolled her eyes. 

_What a bitch_ , Sara thought. _If she rolls her eyes that much, they’re gonna get stuck back there permanently soon._ Sara also knew that that’s a myth, but she also really hoped that it’d happen because it’d be funny.

But, for the sake of being at least semi-civil for the rest of this hell-sent encounter, Sara refrained from saying anything along those lines. Instead, she smiled and said, “Sorry, I overreacted. Next time I’ll somehow fix the phones myself, like I obviously should have.”

_So much for being civil._

Ava, obviously, was angry. She was pissed. Sara could see it on her face, a vein on the side of her forehead bulging, her eyes dark and stormy, and her face reddening by the second. She opens her mouth to say something - Sara assumed she was about to shoot some more condescending insults back at her - but then she closed it. Closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, let it out, opened her eyes again, now much calmer than she was before. 

“It’s fine. We can fix this, but it’ll take a while. For the near future, you’ll be using Gary’s old company laptop. It’s slow, it’s buggy, but it works.”

Ava actually seemed eerily calm, if Sara had to describe it. _Too calm_. 

Based off of Sara’s experience with her old military buddies, it could mean only one thing. She wasn’t just pissed, she was enraged. To the point of ‘Sara, if you don’t shut up right this second, not only will I break your neck, but I’ll snap it clean off your shoulders and stick it up your ass.’

(It’s true, one of her military buddies had legitimately said that to her, word for word, after she’d stopped him from starting a drunken brawl at the bar.)

“You know what? That’s fair. I did spill stuff, might as well use something subpar. It’s a fair punishment. Maybe I’ll learn my lesson.”

Ava nodded and walked away, but Sara could have _sworn_ that she heard a small “doubtful” come from Ava her footsteps slowly receded.

~*~

“So there’s this new chick in the IT department. Nora. Claims she was sold to a cult as a kid. She _also_ claims she was possessed by a demon. And there’s fucking photographic evidence to back it up. I don’t know if it was photoshopped or what, but damn she’s cool,” Charlie, Zari’s significant other said.

“Too bad she’s already friends with she-who-shall-not-be-named.” Zari sighed. “I would love to be friends with her.”

“Oh, don’t even go there. Not only shall she not be named, but she shall not be mentioned, either. She’s a curse on this household.” Sara groaned and threw a pillow at Zari and Charlie, telling them that they better “shut the fuck up” or else they couldn’t watch TV with her anymore. 

“Damn. Savage.”

Sara and Zari were lounging around in their pyjamas, watching The Good Place as they pigged out on Chinese takeout - basically a staple food for them, since neither of them could cook well enough to make a meal. Charlie was curled up with a blanket as they leaned into Zari’s side, which was definitely more affection than Sara was used to seeing either of them display.

“Yeah it is. Now shut up and let me be horny for, like, everyone on this show in peace.”

~*~

Sara may or may not be more drunk than she usually is. She’d lost track of the amount of shots she’d had more than half an hour ago, and this cute lady who looks strangely familiar kept buying her more until she was so drunk that she could barely see straight.

The lady that was buying her drinks was, oddly enough, with another blonde lady who was also familiar, and was also shooting her death glares. Completely valid, considering the fact that Sara seemed to be stealing her girl. 

It wasn’t Sara’s fault, though. The woman kept giving her drinks.

And she wasn’t even her type. She was short and brunette and, yeah, she had a hot face but not her type. The death glare woman was definitely much closer. Tall, blonde, and very very pretty.

Not that Sara was looking.

Except, she totally was.

Because the woman was tall, blonde, hot and angry, and dammit hot angry women were goddesses, _especially_ if they were tall and blonde. And goddesses were Sara’s kryptonite.

(Sara knew both Supergirl _and_ her secret identity, thanks to a drunken hook-up at her annoying-ass ex’s friend’s wedding that was somehow derailed by nazis and _how do her and her friends get into these kinds of situations so often?_ )

But Sara couldn’t think about that, because as much as she appreciated getting drinks from this woman, that was as far as it would go. She couldn’t be anything like Oliver, hurting people she said she cared about. Because as much as she - and oftentimes other people - hated to admit it, deep down, Sara Lance was a good person.

Or, a good-ish person. Because obviously she wasn’t perfect.

MESSAGES  
ZARI <3  


< div align="right">this wom man keeps giving  
me drjins and shes soooo  
pwrtty buwt shes with  
antoter girlk why arew  
alk the prtetyu girlas  
tyakn????  
 _Sent: 12:47 AM_

its so meannnnn  
_Sent: 12:47 AM_  


  
Sara, how drunk are you?  
_Sent: 12:51 AM_  


itsw not thagt baf  
_Sent: 12:57 AM_  


The woman came up to give her another drink. “My friend over there thinks you’re cute,” she said.

“She’s not dating you?” Sara said, blown away by the revelation? “This is a gay bar and the two of you seem super close. You’re trying to trick me into a threesome, aren’t you? Just because I’m bi doesn’t mean I’m going to have sex with both of you, you know. Unless you want me to, then I will. But only because you’re both super hot.”

The woman laughed. “I’m straight, just wing-womaning. She kept getting me to buy you drinks so that you would stop being so sad. We’ve been here all night, she’s getting over a bad breakup.”

“Oh. Well. Okay.” Sara knew her words were slurred.

“So?”

“I may be drunk but I do _not_ want to have sex with a sad girl. Sad girl sex is the worst. It’s worse than not having sex at all.”

“I-” the woman paused, thinking about what to say next. “That is not at _all_ what I meant. I was asking if you wanted to come over and chat with us.”

“No, I’m going home now. Sad girl talking is even worse than sad girl sex. At least you get sex out of sad girl sex.”

“Okay, good luck with that, Sara.”

(Looking back, Sara realizes she should _probably_ have questioned how this very pretty lady who wanted her to talk with her just-as-pretty friend knew her name, but in her defense, she was drunk as hell and drunk Sara has no thinking skills.)

~*~

Sara woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. Zari walking around the living room right outside of her bedroom sounded like an elephant trampling a million sticks and _why was she still in her clothes from when she went to the bar?_ God, they were uncomfortable as fuck.

At least she didn’t hook up with a random stranger, that would have been embarrassing. “Zari…” she cried out, trying (and obviously failing) to summon her friend by telepathy first. “Can you bring me some Advil and keep it down out there?”

“Fine, but only because I saw your drunk texts. Sara, that was just weird. You sounded like a stalker.”

Sara groaned at Zari, but still thanked her when she arrived at Sara’s bedside with two small pills and a tall glass of water. 

She flopped back over and buried her head under her pillow, trying to block out just a little bit more light and sound so the jackhammer-to-the-brain level headache she had would maybe lessen up a bit. But of course Zari and Charlie were watching a movie and it was somehow blasting through her pillow and straight into Sara’s brain.

So, naturally, Sara grabbed the closest thing she could find that was hard and wouldn’t break (aka the book that she’d been reading for months now) and threw it as hard as she could at the door.

But apparently she forgot that she was hungover and massively misjudged the amount of strength she had because it flew a few feet and then landed on the floor with an unsatisfying _thud_.

Great. Just great.

(Actually, it was in fact not great at all because now Sara had to actually get up and tell Zari off for being too loud.)

But… 

Being angry makes her head pound worse.

Sara just wanted a quiet day in bed and to not have to listen to her best friend’s TV shows blasted through the walls.

Honestly, basically everything Sara does makes her head hurt worse, but she didn’t want to deal with that thought right then. Partially because, yes, it makes her head hurt worse, but also because she doesn’t want to think about how it used to be.

Her and Laurel used to be able to go from bar to bar, drinking and drinking until they couldn’t see straight. But then Sara enlisted in the military and Laurel drank herself half to death and had to go to rehab.

But that was then and this is now.

So Sara stormed out of her room to yell at Zari for having the TV on too loud and was shocked when she saw Laurel waiting for her.

“Hey, kid.”

“What are you doing here?” Her voice was raspy and she sounded unintentionally angry, but Sara didn’t really care because seriously, what was Laurel doing here?

“Can’t I just visit my sister?”

Sara wanted to believe Laurel was just visiting her, but she couldn’t. “What does Mom want this time?” she said with a sigh. “I have no more money to give her.”

Like Laurel, their mom also drank herself half to death when Sara left. But unlike Laurel, she still hasn’t accepted that she needs help and continues to drink.

Laurel sighed, her shoulders slumping. “You should sit down.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sara, Mom’s liver is failing. She needs a transplant or she’ll die within a month, but she isn’t eligible for the transplant list because of her drinking. She doesn't want anything, just to say goodbye.”

Sara should have been upset. Her head was spinning from pain and feelings of… is it grief? Panic? Relief? Sara didn’t know. But she knew that it was too much to deal with and, honestly, she didn’t actually want to say goodbye to her mom or ever talk to her again.

“Laurel, I know you love Mom but she was never there for me as a kid. You were her perfect little angel and I was the one that got into fist fights with people twice my size and got suspended from school countless times. I’m the college dropout, you’re the lawyer. She doesn’t want to see me.”

“She tried though, Sara. She wanted to but it was just too hard.”

“Why? Why was it too hard to be there for me? Why was it too hard to watch just one of my school plays? To attend my high school graduation. To just tell me that she loved me.”

Laurel didn’t say anything, and Sara wasn’t surprised. 

“Go tell Mom that I’m sorry she’s in pain, but she did this to herself. I’m not going to feel sorry for her if she did this to herself. She knew what she was doing.” Sara was yelling and her head was still throbbing so she just turned and walked back into her room, slamming the door as she got there and flopping down onto her bed. 

So much for a quiet day, but at least she had an excuse to spend it in bed.

~*~

Sara, unfortunately, once again had computer issues the next day because _of course she did_ , which meant seeing Ava again.

But this time she brought the new girl (who looks familiar, and acts awkwardly around her, she must be one of Sara’s old flings) and is introducing her as Nora Darhk, and oh.

That’s the person that Charlie thought was so cool.

Of course.

She looked pretty cool, with her leather jacket and skinny jeans. Thank god for working in an office with a chill dress code.

“Lance, are you listening?”

“Nope. What do you want, Sharpe?”

“Mostly for you to stop being pathetic excuse of a human being--” _ouch_ “--but also for you to tell me what the _hell_ you did to fuck up your computer this badly.”

Sara shrugged. If Ava was going to be such an asshole, she decided that two could play that game. “Dunno.” 

Ava shook her head and asked her to move out of the way so she could see what was happening.

“Huh.” Ava looked perplexed.

“What is it?” Nora asked.

“Somehow Lance managed to enter an infinite loop in the program we made, which is weird because I explicitly remember checking for this exact scenario.”

“What? Ava, you know I’m not actually a computer programmer, I grew up in a cult while possessed by a demon.”

Sara laughed really hard at that one, and Nora just smirked at her.

“For the last time, Nora, growing up in a demon cult does _not_ excuse you not knowing how computers work!”

Nora shook her head while looking Sara dead in the eye and saying, “You think it’s a valid excuse, right?”

Sara didn’t know what to say. But then again, any opportunity to side against Ava was a good opportunity, in her personal opinion. “I mean, it sounds good to me. How would you have learned to use computers if you were in a cult?”

“The cult had computers!” Ava yelled, and then everyone around them turned to stare. 

Sara and Nora burst into laughter, both doubled over as they tried to stop and catch their breath. 

“Okay, fine, but I still didn’t learn how to use them. You forget that I was the one possessed by the demon that everyone worshipped, and that means that I wasn’t allowed to do much other than be treated like the vessel I was.”

Sara raised her hand, like any normal person in a normal office setting would do when talking to two people. “If you don’t mind me asking, how exactly did you get into this situation?”

“Oh, my dad was in debt with a bunch of these people, being this evil sorcerer and all that, so he offered me as the vessel for the demon and everyone just kinda thought it was a good idea. So, y’know. A normal childhood.”

Ava sighed. “Can we _please_ get back to work?”

“No. I want to hear more about Nora’s ‘completely normal’ childhood.”

“Do it off company time. Like, for example, in the bar you were in last night.”

“That’s stalker-ish, Sharpe. How did you know I was there?”

“Nora was talking to you, you idiot. Or were you too drunk to remember?”

“... Maybe I was.”

“Well, maybe the two of you should be all buddy-buddy, even though apparently you were quite rude to Nora last night.”

“I was drunk! I don’t even remember this!”

Ava groaned and rolled her eyes, pressed a few keys, and walked away. “Your computer is restarting. I’ll be back at my desk once you realize you should thank me.”

 _Arrogant. Sexy_.

Sara cursed herself for thinking that.

But Nora didn’t leave when Sara was gone. “So. Why is drunk girl sex so bad? You told me why drunk girl talking is bad -- or at least kind of -- but I never got to hear why you, Sara Lance, would pass up an opportunity to have sex with an amazing woman.”

Sara’s face heated up and she was _sure_ that she was blushing. So she shrugged and tried to pass off some excuse that she had to “do her project or something”, which… was a complete lie, she had to actually go talk to Nate about what font is best for presentations.

(AKA she needed to rant about how infuriating Ava is to someone that _doesn’t_ work with her because as great as Zari is, she thinks Ava is actually nice which is clearly wrong.)

“Sure you do. You’re angrier than normal, what’s going on? I know we aren’t friends but Ray’s my boyfriend and he’s kind of tired of hearing both of you ranting to him about how, and I quote, _insufferably annoying_ , the other one is.”

“I never said that. Ava is much more than insufferably annoying. If anything, she said that about me.”

Nora shrugged. “Never said who I was quoting.”

Oh. Well, Sara had to give her that one. Nora didn’t actually say it was Sara that said it.

“Look, I’m here if you need to talk.”

Sara considered that for a few moments, fiddling with the pen that had magically appeared in her hands. When did she even pick it up? “Were you ever mad at your dad for offering you as a demon vessel to a cult?”

Nora looked at Sara. She just stares for a minute before responding. “Well that’s not what I expected you to ask. But god, I hated him for years. But then he explained something to me. He told me that he was doing what he thought was right, because the cult leaders told him that one day, with Mallus by my side, I could rule the world. Literally. So he was doing this because he cared, as dark and twisted as it seems. So, yeah. I hated him but now that I know why he was doing what he was doing, our relationship is actually good.”

“You’re close again? You actually managed to forgive him?”

“Well… we were close. But then he got killed because of some weird demon cult stuff. But yeah, for those few years before his death, we were closer than ever.”

Sara nodded. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she knew what she needed to do.

“Is something going on with your dad?”

“My mom,” Sara said, and then explained the whole situation. “I don’t actually want her to die. Not for me, I still hate her guts, but for Laurel. She’d be devastated.”

Nora gave Sara a soft smile and put her hand on her shoulder. “You’ll figure it out eventually. But in the meantime, stop breaking your computer and give Ava a break, she’s going through some shit with a crazy stalker ex and, honestly, I think it’s weirder than demon cults.”

Both women started laughing again, and that was the moment that Sara realized that maybe Ava wasn’t as bad as Sara thought if she could have a friend as nice as Nora.

(Sara didn’t actually acknowledge it as that until, like, three months later when she was laying in bed thinking about Ava.)

(If you’d told present-day Sara that she’d be thinking about Ava while in bed, she’d have snapped your neck in two before you could get another word in.)

~*~

Sara’s fifth encounter with Ava wasn’t at work. She was at the bar with Zari, both of them were blackout drunk, and the next thing Sara knew, she woke up wrapped in some lady’s arms.

But they weren’t just “some lady’s”. They were Ava’s.

Which meant…

_No._

_It can’t be._

_Can it?_

Fuck. 

_FUCK!_

Sara and Ava slept together. 

Which meant even more awkward interactions at work. Angrier Ava. 

And it’s not like Sara could even leave, because they were at _her house_ and shit, Zari was either going to kill her for bringing someone she didn’t know home while she was there, or kill her with relentless teasing if she realized who it was. Either way, this situation was ending in death for Sara and she was not here for it.

Then again, it’s not like she hasn’t died already. She just has to be revived again and she’ll be fine.

(Thank god for modern medical equipment).

As Sara was trying to figure out what to do, Ava stirred, clinging harder to Sara. “Mmm. Come back to bed.”

Sara didn’t want to say anything to anger Ava, and she was definitely _not_ about to let Ava know that it was her - she wanted to push off that little freak out as long as possible - so she just sighed and decided to lay back down, albeit awkwardly and stiffly. 

“Wait. Where are we?”

And, of course, that was the exact moment Zari decided to barge into the room, yelling, “Sara, you’ll never guess what Charlie… _is that Ava?_ ”

Ava shot up. “Shit. I need to go. Lance, if you _ever_ bring this up at the office, not only will I report you to HR and get you fired, but I’ll make sure it’s near impossible for you to get another job. Got it?”

And _that_ was the Ava Sharpe that Sara knew and loved to hate. 

~*~

Sara didn’t even make it more than half an hour before the teasing started, because honestly, Zari was the worst. 

“You mean to tell me that you hooked up with fucking Ava Sharpe, your self declared worst enemy, and you didn’t even realize until this morning? Were you really that drunk?”

Sara grimaced as she nodded, “Apparently! This is your fault, you know.”

“How the hell is it my fault? You’re the one that wanted to go out, you’re the one who bought all of our drinks, and _you’re the one that ended up in bed with Ava_.”

“Fine. It’s my fault. But you didn’t stop me.”

“Let me remind you in case you forgot. You’re a grown ass woman, and I am not your mother. You can make your own decisions, even though apparently you’re shit at them. So please. Get your shit together and just decide whether you like her or not, because all of this back and forth is exhausting.”

There was a pause where no one said anything. Zari didn’t say anything because she’d said all she had to say, and Sara because she wasn’t quite sure what to say. What should she have said to that? 

So Sara just nodded and poured her cup of coffee, accepting Zari’s frustration.

“Look, Sara. I love you, you know that I love you. But you need to really think this through. Because I can tell that you find her attractive, but you also really don’t like her, and that’s fine, but stuff like that really can’t happen.”

Sara groaned. “Next time my computer craps out is gonna be so fucking awkward.” She rested her folded arms on the table and rested her head in them, staring blankly at the table. “She’s gonna be so terrible and stuck-up and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already reported me to HR because we had sex.”

Zari scoffed and Sara can only assume she was rolling her eyes as well, as she does. “You realize by saying ‘we had sex’, she also would be admitting that _she_ had sex with _you_?”

“Well yes, but what if I forced her? What if I somehow made her think she had to?”

“I know you. You’d never do that.”

Even though Sara knew that it was true and she’d never be the kind of person that doesn’t take no for an answer, the thought sent her into a spiral of what ifs. 

Some of them were actually valid concerns.

Like, what if her and Ava had been seen by someone? What if Ava told people?

Some of them weren’t as valid.

For example, at one point, she’d wondered if somehow she’d ended up with an unknown STD (very unlikely considering she hadn’t had unprotected sex since being with Oliver) and given it to Ava (which led Sara to literally scoff out loud because _like someone as obsessed with rules as Ava would have unprotected sex_ ). 

But, really, this was just super fucked up and not so good situation.

Sara was _really_ dreading going to work from now on.

~*~

Somehow, Sara and Ava’s next work encounter was even more awkward than when Ava woke up in Sara’s bed.

Neither of them knew how that was possible, of course, but it was.

Sara’s computer, once again, ended up with a virus on it. 

The virus in question? 

Oh, only one that opened a single tab of porn that refused to close, and set her speakers to full volume.

Sara wasn’t sure how she got it. Since Ava basically accused her of being computer illiterate (which she was not, thank you very much), she _only_ went on work-approved sites and didn’t download anything that she wasn’t 100% required to download.

But somehow she still got the virus. 

And because of her dumb luck, Ava was still the only person sent to fix her computer.

Ava knew all of the shortcuts to turn off her audio and quickly reset her computer, without saying a word.

The silence was horrible and the tension was so thick, Sara felt like she was suffocating, but still, neither of them said a word. 

Sara eventually said, “Sorry for getting a virus on my computer again. I honestly don’t know what happened.”

Ava shook her head and shrugged. “This is actually a pretty common thing around here. I think it’s probably sent by email.”

Her response was quiet and civil, both things that Sara wouldn’t have used to describe anything else Ava had ever said to her.

It was fucking weird.

So Sara let her do her thing. And all in all, it probably took no longer than ten minutes, but _damn_ , those were some hellishly uncomfortable ten minutes.

After Ava had left, Sara noticed that Ava had never even looked at her once. They’d never made eye contact. Sara had looked at Ava, of course. Her face was tomato-red the entire time and she looked about ready to pass out or throw up. Sara hated it.

But, as the kids (and Gary when he’s trying to act cool) would say, “sometimes it just be like that.”

Sometimes it just be like that.

~*~

Historically, Sara has always found out the most important things in her life by spying on people.

For instance, there was that time in her life that she found out that her mom was cheating on her dad by snooping through her mom’s phone. 

(She got grounded for a month _and_ had Laurel not talk to her for a whole four months because she blamed her for their parents getting divorced. Really, it was their mom’s fault, though. Laurel knows that now.)

And then there was that time that she found out that Oliver was cheating on her because he overheard his phone call to his mistress -- is it really a mistress if they’re dumbass teenagers, though?

And, of course, there was the fact that it was literally her job for a while, being a private investigator as soon as she got out of the military.

But nothing could have prepared her for the fact that the time Nora was trying to hook her up with Ava was orchestrated by Zari. And to find that out by just happening to overhear them in a coffee shop… well, that was something else entirely. And it was _not_ pleasant.

In her defense, they were talking very loudly and Sara was like six feet away from them at most. Probably way less.

But seriously?

Zari and Nora trying to set her and Ava up?

Damn.

Well, at least they somewhat succeeded because of that time her and Ava drunkenly hooked up.

So Sara went back to sipping her iced coffee, picking at her cheese biscuit (which they put _way_ too much butter on, thank you very much), and minding her own business. Sure, it was hard to do sometimes since she was really curious and slightly pissed, but she really didn’t want to hear more.

It didn’t last long, though. It was about her, so why wouldn’t she listen?

Sara learned three things that day: don’t trust Zari when she thinks you might like someone, that Nora doesn’t know how to back down from a challenge, and that apparently Ava actually kind of likes her but really doesn’t at the same time.

The feeling is mutual.

But for Sara, her feelings of like were slowly starting to outweigh the feelings of dislike. The key word there is slowly, because Sara really didn’t think that Ava and her will ever be much more than enemies with a mutual attraction to each other. Maybe they’d possibly hook up every now and then, but that would be it.

They couldn’t ever be more than that, because of office rules that Sara is _still_ completely and utterly positive that Ava would never break.

Ava’s too good for that.

Sara, on the other hand, has fucked more than her share of people in that office building.

Ava didn’t need to know that, though. She’d just end up thinking she was another meaningless fling. And for some strange reason, Sara really didn’t want her to think that.

(Looking back, Sara knows that it was because she actually had feelings for Ava. Not that she’d ever admit it to anyone other than herself, because that’s just asking for Zari to tease her about it.)

~*~

Late at night during another bout of anxiety-induced insomnia, Sara decided to think back on all those strange, borderline awkward encounters she’s had with Ava. 

Here’s what she’d managed to figure out:

  1. Sara thinks Ava is really hot, proven by that one time they’d drunkenly hooked up (even though Sara technically wasn’t supposed to say anything about that, like _ever_.)
  2. Sara wouldn’t _really_ mind getting to know Ava a little better, despite the fact that most of the time, Ava was really not that nice. Sara thinks that she just has her walls up, and really, who can fault her for that? It’s not like Sara had been any nicer.
  3. Ava is really - and Sara means _really_ \- smart. Like, genius level smart. And Sara didn’t actually realize that before, because she was too busy either hating her or being turned on by her to really notice anything else. 



But none of that was the most striking revelation that happened that night. 

Sara realized something far more important.

Something that would change a lot. Possibly even too much.

Sara Lance liked Ava Sharpe. 

(To which Sara said, “Fuck,” very _very_ loudly and then proceeded to have a slight meltdown. But that’s irrelevant.)

~*~

After the previous night’s thoughts, Sara decided to do something she never thought would happen in her lifetime. She decided to ask Ava Sharpe out for lunch.

She got shot down, of course, because Ava thought this was some kind of trick or joke or-

Sara cut her off there. She could sense that Ava was about to spiral and reassured her that it was not, in fact, a trick, and she actually really wanted to go out for lunch with her.

Ava still said no.

Sara wasn’t surprised. 

It still hurt more than Sara liked to admit.

But she tried again the next day, and the next, and the next, always making sure that she said that Ava was still allowed to say no, she just wanted the opportunity to try and start again.

Then (almost miraculously), Ava said yes one day, just under two weeks later.

Obviously, Sara still wasn’t sure whether Ava said yes because she actually wanted to or because she was trying to get Sara to stop, but she was happy either way. It meant she could finally apologize for how she treated Ava. 

After the realization - that’s what Sara was calling it, the realization - Sara wanted nothing more than to properly apologize to Ava. She’d been feeling guilty and it hurt her more than she could rationalize.

They made plans to go out for lunch that same day. While it meant that Sara had less time to prepare what she was going to say - all she knew was that it would be something along the lines of “I’m sorry, the way I’ve been treating you was wrong, I hope I can make it up to you, can we try all of this again” - but it also meant that she had less time to spiral into anxiety about what she actually did need to say.

Sara had exactly two hours and thirteen minutes until Ava would arrive at her desk, assuming everything went as according to plan, and that meant that she had that much time to hopefully do as much planning for her upcoming presentation as possible. However, she also knew that this was highly unlikely, and that she’d probably end up distracted.

Less than an hour later, she was proven right. Somehow she’d managed to convince herself that something would go wrong and that Ava would hate her forever and then she found herself hiding out in a secluded conference room on the phone with Laurel.

_“Sara, I don’t know what to tell you that’ll make you feel better. Either she’ll forgive you or she won’t. Not to sound all hippie or whatever, but it’s really not up to us, and you’re gonna have to just have faith that everything will work out.”_

Sara huffed. “I know. I just… I think she’s a really important person and I just want her to like me. I feel bad and I don’t want her to hate me forever.”

_“She won’t, kiddo. You’re impossible to hate.”_

“Even when I got us kicked out of the club a few years back for being underage? You sure seemed to hate me then.”

_“That was the addiction talking, not me. You know that I could never hate you.”_

Sara kept talking to her sister until she was feeling a lot more sure of herself, and then returned to her desk. 

_An hour and twenty-two minutes remaining. She could do it._

She tried to bury herself back into her work, focusing exclusively on making the presentation the absolute best it could be. After all, it was to be presented to their potential investors, and if Sara fucked it up, it would mean no more money which would mean no more job for her.

No pressure.

(Except, of course, there was a lot of pressure.)

And the distraction technique did end up working, thank god, because before she knew it, Ava was standing there behind her clearing her throat.

“I believe I was promised lunch?” she said with that beautifully deep voice of hers, and a small smile on her face. “You better not be cancelling on me after all of that pestering.”

Sara blushes. Deep down, she’s hoping this is Ava flirting with her, but she knows better than to get her hopes up. There’s no way in hell Ava’s flirting with her, it just can’t be happening. Ava doesn’t like her like that. In fact, Ava doesn’t like her at all right now.

“Yeah, I was thinking we could go to Starbucks? I’m not that hungry but man, their iced coffee is to die for.”

Ava chuckles. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

~*~

Sara and Ava arrive at Starbucks in one piece. Barely. For someone as put together and mature as Ava, she’s a fucking horrendous driver.

Sara legitimately thought she was going to die (again).

It was fine though. After all, a couple of times, Ava’s abrupt braking led to her reaching her arm across Sara’s chest to make sure she didn’t fly through the windshield and damn, that was hot. 

But she should stop thirsting over a (probably taken) woman that really doesn’t like her.

“What are you getting, Ava? My treat.”

“No, this place is expensive, I can’t let you do that,” Ava protested, shaking her head and digging into her purse. “I can pay for myself.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “I’m the one that pestered you until you finally agreed to come out with me, the least I could do is pay for your food. Seriously. My treat.”

Ava seemed to consider that for a moment before letting out a silent huff and relenting. “Fine, but next time is my treat.”

Next time?

_Next time!?!?_

That might as well have been the death of Sara Lance right there.

**_Here lies Sara Lance_ **  
**_Killed by the innocent words of Ava Sharpe_ **  
**_December 25th, 1987 – November 6th, 2019_ **  
**_She just wanted to apologize_ **  


But, obviously, that wasn’t the end of her story. In fact, Ava seemed to pick up on Sara’s flusteredness and blushed, meaning Sara blushed, which meant Ava blushed more, which meant… yeah. Honestly, it was a mess.

Luckily for them, Sara and Ava got to the front of the line and had to order. Oddly enough, they’d ordered the same thing without planning it (two iced coffees with no sugar), and Sara _knew_ it wasn’t just one of them saying ‘yeah, that seems good enough’ because she was the second one to order and she definitely didn’t do that.

Though, now that she was thinking about it, it might not actually be the worst strategy. It shows Ava that she likes similar things and maybe that would make her like her more.

The good thing: they were given their drinks within minutes.

The possibly bad but possibly also good thing: the barista yelling out their names didn’t butcher it, but she _did_ in fact yell “Sara and Ava Lance?” and Sara once again died of embarrassment.

It was _fine_.

(It was not, in fact, fine.)

Sara wanted to strangle the barista. She also wanted to marry the barista but not in a romantic way because that was all saved for Ava.

Sara was a mess. A hot, messy, pining mess. All because of Ava Sharpe.

The two women sat down in a booth facing each other with their drinks while making small talk.

“So, Ava, what’s it like being the lead IT person? Meet any incompetent idiots who just can’t keep their computers running?”

Ava laughed so hard she snorted. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re the one that ends up needing me the most. I don’t know how, but you’ve managed to need me to repair your computer like five times within the span of just as many months.”

Once again, Sara was embarrassed. This time, she hid it well. “How do you know it wasn’t just a ploy for me to see you again?”

After pretending to consider it for a bit, Ava hummed. “Because you hate me?” she says with a teasing tone to her voice. “And because, even if you didn’t, I can tell that you aren’t the kind of person to waste other peoples’ time, despite how much you waste your own?”

Sara’s heart skipped a beat. But before she could answer, a lady in a pride shirt ran over to their table.

“Ava! Why haven’t you been returning my calls? I miss you! You’re making a mistake, you know,” she said, her voice a high pitched whine, almost sounding childish.

Sara could see Ava tense up, though if she didn’t see her sister do the same thing countless times before, she never would have noticed. “Because, Beth, I broke it off. Remember?” Her voice was calm, patient. It was like she was talking to a child that kept complaining about never getting their own way.

Maybe, though, Ava was on to something. The woman _did_ start complaining about not getting her own way, saying that it wasn’t fair that Ava left, and that she was such a mean person for leaving, and so on.

Sara was embarrassed for her. 

The argument went back and forth for a few more minutes before Sara finally stepped in. “Look, Beth, I know you want Ava back. But she’s clearly not interested and you should really save yourself the embarrassment and just leave.”

Thankfully, she did. She kept looking back at Ava as she walked away, though, almost as if hoping she would realize her ‘mistake’, as Beth put it, and call out after her.

Ava never did.

Instead, she leaned across the table towards Sara and whispered, “Sorry about her. She’s a little stalkerish.”

Sara let out a small laugh as the hair on the back of her neck raised. “Yeah, I can tell.”

Leaning back, Ava said, slightly louder this time, “Well, now that you’ve met my creepy ex, I guess we’re lifelong friends.”

“Yeah… friends.” Sara tried to make it sound positive. She also tried to hide her disappointment. She wasn’t sure if she succeeded in either, because she couldn’t tell by the look on Ava’s face. “Want me to share my most recent ex story to even us out?”

Ava’s eyes lit up. “Do I?” she scoffed, leaning forward.

“So _basically_ , growing up, Laurel – my sister – and I had this really rich kid as a friend. Oliver. Y’know, Oliver Queen, that guy.”

“Oliver Queen was your friend as a kid?” Ava asked, not believing her ears.

“Yes. Now listen up. So, Laurel and I both had massive crushes on him. He was in the grade between us at the private school we went to, so neither of us saw him much in school, but he was at our house like 24/7. Eventually, he caught on to our little crushes, but I was the first one to get him to kiss me. At first we were just friends with benefits – a lot of them, might I add --”

“Wait, you and Oliver Queen _dated?_ ”

“Yes, now stop interrupting! So we were friends with benefits since he was really generous with his money as a kid. And then we became more. Boyfriend and girlfriend, if you will. But then I caught him cheating. Over and over and over. So I dumped him. Told my sister it was because we weren’t really into each other anymore, but that wasn’t true. So, they got together.”

“Did he cheat on her, too?”

“Not at first. He actually managed to stay loyal for a really long time. Years. But then he inevitably cheated and the funny thing is, my sister didn’t find out. She didn’t find out until just a few months ago. He actually cheated on me with one of my exes, hilariously,” Sara explained.

Ava only latched on to one part of the story, the same one most people do. “Oliver Queen is gay?”

Sara chuckled. “No, he cheated on me with Felicity.” She already knew the follow-up question.

“Felicity Smoak? The woman he says, and I quote, is the love of his life and that he knew he was going to marry the second he saw her? That Felicity? The one that started fucking Smoak Industries? You _dated her_?” Ava’s eyes were wide, and her jaw might as well have been on the floor. She was so intrigued by Sara’s dating life, apparently, that she completely disregarded her office-wide known hatred for gossip.

“Hell yeah. For years.” Sara loved her. Not that she’d ever admit it anymore.

“Damn. And I thought my situation with Beth was a mess. I broke up with her years ago. Neither of us have dated since, but clearly for very different reasons. I can’t risk her doing something to sabotage my relationships, and she just can’t seem to get over me.”

Sara didn’t know what to say to that, but luckily, Ava said something first. “I think we should get back to the office. Let’s do this again. It was a nice change from babysitting Gary and Mona at lunch.”

The two women smiled at each other and agreed that it could be a weekly thing, and from then on, their tradition was set. A gossipy lunch, the only time they (willingly) talk about their past adventures in dating, and when that topic is worn down for the day, they talk about anything and everything. 

Sara’s only rule for herself is that she cannot, under any circumstances, talk about her crushes. 

She knew she’d accidentally admit it. 

That would _not_ be good.

(Except, she hopes, maybe one day she’ll gather up the courage to, and maybe Ava will like her back, and maybe they can be happy together.)

(That seems unlikely.)

~*~

After a few more lunch dates, Ava gave Sara her number and they were texting _constantly_. If Sara saw a cute video of kittens (Ava’s favourite animal, because of course), she’d send it to Ava. If Ava saw any memes (usually math or coding ones, which went _way_ over Sara’s head, but were cute anyways), she’d send them to Sara.

And they texted about anything and everything in between their memes and videos, too. Like one night, when Ava was having trouble sleeping because of a noisy upstairs neighbour, the two talked until they could barely keep their eyes open about things ranging from Star Wars to how many marshmallows they thought Sara could fit in her mouth.

(The next morning at work, Ava brought in marshmallows for ‘scientific purposes’ only.)

(The answer was that Sara could fit seventeen marshmallows in her mouth at once, and after that her gag reflex got too strong and she almost threw up. It was unpleasant.) 

So, naturally, Sara was sitting around with Zari after a long day at work, texting Ava. 

MESSAGES  
aves <3 (love of my life)  


did u know that zari and  
nora keep hanging out  
without us?  
_Sent: 5:32 PM_  


like come ON!!!  
those fucking traitors  
_Sent: 5:32 PM_  


nora is sooooo cool, how  
did you, a boring stick  
manage to be friends with  
her?  
_Sent: 5:33 PM_  


  
I promise she isn’t as  
cool as you think she is.  
_Sent: 5:40 PM_

  
One time, she spent three  
hours just trying to figure  
out why Ray asked her out  
for dinner  
_Sent: 5:41 PM_

  
THREE HOURS! Do you know  
how absolutely exhausting  
it was to just be like  
“no, Nora, he’s asking you  
out because he LIKES YOU,  
not because he wants to  
kill you and take all your  
money.” Like seriously.  
He’s rich enough as it is,  
he doesn’t need her money  
too.  
_Sent: 5:43 PM_

maybe that’s why they get  
along so well!!!  
_Sent: 5:44 PM_  


their mutual lack of  
common sense and love of  
rambling on and on and on  
_Sent: 5:45 PM_  


  
“Love for rambling”  
_Sent: 5:45 PM_  


  
You’re one to talk, babe  
_Sent: 5:46 PM_

awwwww you called me babe  
_Sent: 5:47 PM_  


you’re WHIPPED  
_Sent: 5:48 PM_  


  
Again, you’re one to  
talk, babe  
_Sent: 5:49 PM_  


Sara must have been smiling at her phone, because when Zari walked out of the kitchen and into their living room, she said, “Damn, that one night stand of yours must really have done something for that sexual tension between the two of you.”

“Fuck off, she doesn’t like me like that,” Sara said embarrassedly, while hoping Zari was right and Ava did actually like her like that.

Zari got that look on her face that she got every time she came up with what she called her “master plans” (which is what Sara usually referred to as a “super disaster”). “What if we were to invite Ava over for one of our game nights? I’ve already invited Nora and Ray to one.”

“I don’t _like_ Nora. She tried to hook me up with Ava.”

Zari just looked at Sara. “You… you realize what you just said, right? You _don’t_ want to hook up with the woman you’ve been thirsting over for months now?”

Sara rolled her eyes, thinking about how to explain. “I don’t know, Z. I want more than a one-night stand with her. Don’t get me wrong, the sex was fantastic – at least, what I remember of it – but I want _more_. I want to be with her. I want inside jokes, I want cuddles, I want relentless teasing. I want what you and Charlie have. I’ve never had that before.”

“Oh damn, you’re _whipped_ , girl. It’s worse than I thought.”

“It’s that bad? Am I one of the people we laugh at, now?”

“You passed that line a _long_ time ago, my friend. A very very _very_ long time ago.”

Sara groaned. “Whatever. It’s worth it.”

Zari smiled at her friend. “It really is.”

The two women just sat on the couch in silence, thinking about what to do next. “Let’s do the game night. Even if she doesn’t end up liking me, at least Ava can be part of our group of friends, right?” Sara was desperate. She didn’t want Ava to _not_ like her, but she also didn’t want to force Ava into the friendzone by just acting like a friend. “I can flirt with her, and hopefully she’ll pick up on it.”

Zari’s grin widened until it almost looked painful. “An amazing idea. Let’s invite her over for Friday. That’ll give us enough time to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?”

“You’ll see.”

“... Am I included in this ‘us’?”

“Nope!”

And that’s when Sara concluded that this will either go amazingly well or disastrously terribly.

 _Well, shit._

~*~ A knock on the door set Sara’s excitement level for her game night to the max, and seeing that it was Laurel just made it a hundred times higher.

“Hey, kid! How are you?” Laurel wrapped her arms around Sara, and Sara relaxed into the comfort of her older sister’s arms, the familiar scent of her perfume and shampoo relaxing her slight nerves.

“I’m good. Really excited for you to meet all of my friends,” Sara said, completely honest. Ever since getting out of rehab all those months ago, her and Laurel had been closer than ever, but for some reason, she’d never introduced Laurel to anyone except Zari. “You said you were bringing someone, where is he?”

Laurel hesitated. “ _She’s_ parking the car.”

Sara’s small smile turned into a shit-eating grin. “Laurel Lance, are you telling me you jumped onto the gay train?”

“Fuck off.”

Sara shrugged and turned to let Laurel into the apartment. “Z! Where’s the food?” she yelled, but before Zari could respond, Laurel’s girlfriend appeared.

And it was fucking Felicity Smoak.

Because of course it was.

The two women stared at each other for a few long moments, not knowing what to say.

And then Felicity broke the silence with, “Laurel. Did you not tell Sara that we were dating?”

Laurel hesitated before answering, but eventually said, “... Maybe? I forgot.”

“You _forgot_?” Sara asked with a groan, because of course her and her sister had the same type. Of course. “Felicity, aren’t you dating Oliver?”

Felicity sent her a puzzled look. “No? We broke up months ago.”

Sara groaned. “That’s what I get for avoiding all news about my exes.”

The three talk for a bit more, Sara and Felicity quickly settling back into their quick banter and ganging up on Laurel for somehow forgetting one very important detail.

Sara poured herself a glass of wine, Laurel denying on the basis of being sober and Felicity wanting to support her girlfriend (and Sara still found it weird hearing her sister refer to her ex as her girlfriend, especially since before like fifteen minutes ago she thought Laurel was _straight_ ).

Sara got through an entire glass before there was another knock on the door, which was either really good or really bad, considering she was now a lightweight after years of not drinking because she didn’t want to be her mom, so naturally she was already slightly tipsy. But only a little bit.

Her inhibition wasn’t even impared yet, she was just all blushy and weird.

And of course it was Nora and Ray in their chaotic glory, arriving in matching blue leather jackets. Because that’s a completely normal thing to do after three months of dating.

Nora immediately wanted in on the wine drinking and Ray agreed to a beer, but only because he didn’t want to experience drunk Nora while drunk because, as he said, she’s “slightly terrifying” when she talks about being in a demon cult.

(Apparently it was the only thing she knew how to talk about, since that was her only childhood experience she ever got, other than that one time she got lost in a grocery store at the age of three.)

Nora and Sara got through two glasses each of wine before realizing _maybe_ they should pace themselves so that there’s more wine later, and then Ava arrived so of course Sara had another glass of wine and she was officially drunk.

When Ava stepped in the door, the first thing she did was kiss Sara on the cheek, so it’s only natural that she had more wine.

Feelings are scary.

But then Laurel seemed concerned that Sara was getting _too_ drunk, and even drunk Sara knew that Laurel was right, she needed to pace herself. 

Laurel pulled Sara off to the side to tell her that.

“Kid, is something going on?”

Sara shrugged. “I can’t stop thinking about Mom.”

Laurel sighed and hugged Sara again. “Are you okay?”

“I think I should get tested to see if I can be a liver donor.” Laurel smiled at that. “Are you sure? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s a big thing, and I know you don’t have the best relationship with her.”

“I’m not doing it for her, Laur. I’m doing it for you. Mom and I might not have the best relationship, but you guys do and I don’t want to risk that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“This isn’t just drunk Sara talking, right?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

Laurel nodded and just looked at Sara with pride in her eyes, until Sara said, “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just proud of you, kid. You’ve come so far from that angry little kid you were when you were little.”

“I’m proud of you too, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want them to think I’m soft.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

When the two of them walked back out into the living room, they heard a very drunk Nora saying (yelling, really), “So that’s why Sara and Ava are soulmates and _have_ to kiss!” to a laughing Felicity and Ava with her face as red as a beet, trying to hide it behind a blanket but failing miserably.

“Oh, speak of the devil,” Felicity said smiling, looking straight at Sara. “So, when are you and Ava going to kiss, huh?”

Sara choked on air as she ran to snatch Nora’s drink away from her. “Maybe no more alcohol for you, babe.”

“Excuse me, Ava is your babe, not me.”

“Yes, that’s right. Now! What game are we playing first?”

“Beer pong!” Nora yelled.

“No!” everyone else yelled simultaneously.

“Spin the bottle it is!”

No one objected to that, everyone wanted Ava and Sara to kiss.

~*~

So, apparently Sara getting together with all of her friends who _know_ that she has a crush on Ava and all of them getting drunk except for her sister and her ex was not a good plan. 

Or maybe it was?

She couldn’t decide.

No matter if it was good or bad, it ended up with Ava and Sara trapped in a (very small) closet together during a wild game of truth or dare.

Maybe it would have been better if Sara hadn’t said “dare”.

(Especially since she knew that everyone was annoyed that Sara kissed literally everyone _except_ for Ava during spin the bottle.)

(Ava was extra annoyed about that.)

At least this was only for ten minutes.

Then again, Zari made it clear that if Sara wouldn’t “man up” and confess her “goddamn sappy feeling shit” to Ava, she would do it for her and that’s just… not good. At all. 

So maybe ten minutes would be all she needed.

But... apparently Ava’s claustrophobic which really didn’t make any of this easier, especially since she was on the verge of a panic attack, and Sara isn’t really sure what to do with that, no matter how many times she’d had them herself.

“Aves? Can you look at me?” Sara said gently, putting her hand on Ava’s arm to try and ground her, something Laurel always did when Sara was fresh out of the army.

Ava took a shaky breath in and made eye contact with Sara, her eyes wet and pleading. “I _hate_ closets.”

“I get it. But we can do this, right? We just gotta breathe and stay calm.”

Ava screwed her eyes shut and tried to breathe, though it still came out shaky.

Sara tried to make a new plan in her head, but the only one that came up was to just get them out of this situation as soon as possible.

“Zari, if I do what you want me to do, can we come out sooner?” Sara yelled, internally cursing herself when she saw Ava flinch at the sudden loud noise.

“Fine!”

 _Here goes nothing_ , Sara thought as she looked Ava in the eye, asking, “Can I kiss you?”

Even in the dim lighting, Sara _swore_ she saw Ava blush. “I thought you’d never ask.”

So, of course, they did.

To Sara, it was all a blur of hands in hair and a racing heart and just pure, utter shock that she finally got to be with the woman she had been crushing on (not that she would _ever_ call it that) for god knows how long.

But it was also so much more. It was like coming home after a long day at work. It was like curling up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate on a cold and blustery winter night. It was like being able to take a deep breath in the cool autumn breeze.

It was somehow like all of that at once.

It was like every good feeling she’d had, added all together, and multiplied by at least a million.

It was _perfect._ More than perfect. 

Sara didn’t know what it was (and she probably never will, to be honest), but it was something she knew she would want to do again and again.

What she did know, though, at that exact moment, was that kissing Ava was something she’d be doing for the rest of her life.

(She was, of course, right. For every day for the rest of their lives, Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe fell more in love with each other than ever before. They were soulmates, after all.)

(When they told their friends they’d finally kissed, everyone cheered like they’d never cheered before, because _fucking finally_ , these idiots were made for each other.)


End file.
